John Powers
John Powers is the pop culture and critic-at-large on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. He previously served for six years as the film critic.
Powers spent the last 25 years as a critic and columnist, first for LA Weekly, then Vogue. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including Harper's BAZAAR, The Nation, Gourmet, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.
A former professor at Georgetown University, Powers is the author of Sore Winners, a study of American culture during President George W. Bush's administration. His latest book, WKW: The Cinema of Wong Kar Wai (co-written with Wong Kar Wai), is an April 2016 release by Rizzoli.
He lives in Pasadena, California, with his wife, filmmaker Sandi Tan.
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Daniel Roher's film about Russian dissident Alexei Navalny offers intimate, sometimes amazing access to the bravery — and human cost — of opposing a despot.
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Actual crimes are scary and disturbing, but critic John Powers finds crime stories comforting. He recommends two shows he's been binge-watching during the pandemic.
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Critic John Powers recommends three stories to break up the monotony of coronavirus lockdown: Unorthodoxon Netflix; Baghdad Central on Hulu and a new translation of Magda Szabó's 1970 novel Abigail. -
Hulu's new eight-part series uses the fraught encounter between two families — one well-off and white, one bohemian and black — to raise tricky questions about race and social class.
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First the town disappears from Google Maps. Then a UFO appears — and a water truck is riddled with bullet holes. Bacurauis a community portrait, a horror thriller and a work of political filmmaking. -
A jaunty new 10-part series plays as an amped-up comic book, blending an old-school revenge saga with a grim history lesson. Huntersexhibits a desire to be inventive that doesn't always pay off.
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A Tokyo police detective heads to London to bring back his gangster brother in this BBC series, which is playing on Netflix. Giri/Hajiis a thriller that bursts with compelling scenes.
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Fellini was cinema's great laureate of the id, a director who understood the power of the body and didn't fear its unruliness. -
A 10-part series based on the 2018 novel centers on the murder of a young boy — then spirals out to draw connections between our inner demons and the ones roaming out in the world. -
Few things haunt a critic more than loving something and not being able to share it. This year, Fresh Aircritic John Powers circles back to Unbelievable, Atlantics, Where the Light Fallsand more.
